I know I've been talking about how I don't really take weekend trips this semester in my past posts but now it's time to change it up and report on a weekend adventure outside my host city. This past weekend I took the eurostar chunnel to Paris. We left early Saturday morning when it was definitely still dark out in London and arrived in Paris just before 10 am where it wasn't much lighter, just more gray skies. We wondered around for a while trying to find our hostel to drop our stuff off. Oh hostels, how I had forgotten the joy of your accommodations. We dropped our stuff off in storage and headed on out to see the city of love. We took the metro over to the champs-elysee and arc d'triumph. We found my favorite store in all of Europe (which of course has a location in almost every city except London) called Promod and there the best surprise ever awaited us. They were having a massive sale. Now normally this is not an inexpensive clothing store. Its not as bad as, say, Urban Outfitters, maybe price-range closer to the Limited or Express. So definitely not cheap. But they were having their last day of the winter sale and they had shirts for 5 and 7 euro, dresses for 10 and 12 euro. BIG SALE. It was like a big early birthday present or something, they knew I was coming. Mom and Dad, I promise I did not over do it. After this magical shopping stop, we hung out on the corner and took pictures of the arc d'triumph. Reminded me of the one in Milan from Napoleon's invasion...which of course was modeled after this one. It was about 2 pm at this point and we decided to walk to Notre Dame (especially since it had been under construction when I came to Paris 10 years ago). Our map was very deceptive in terms of distances and this walk did not look as long as it felt. We walked along the Seine by all the stands selling vintage magazines, newspapers, and books. We passed many a gold-domed museums and landmarks (invalides, musee orsay, etc) and finally, finally, finally (chilled to our bones) arrived at the famous church. We took pictures, hunted for the hunchback, and explored the inside. I think I would have been much more impressed if I hadn't gone on a church-viewing marathon last semester through Italia. But, still, pretty cool house of worship if a Jew might say so herself. After this we took or super cold bodies to a cafe and got ourselves some nutella crepes. WOWZA. I think it has been a long, long, long time since I have consumed that much sugar in one sitting. Delicious...for the first few bites. At the end...nauseating. But when in France...
After this we walked back to the hostel. We dropped Jennica off to take a nap and then Kaitlin and I explored some more around our hostel. We were located near the piazza Republique (sp?) and so we walked around there. We purchased some wonderfully inexpensive French wine. We came back to pick up Jennica and then went out to explore some Parisian nightlife.
On Sunday we had originally planned on trying to see the Louvre and Versailles. Other people at the hostel, however, told us a trip to Versailles takes 6 hours and I was not willing to sacrifice a trip to the Louvre for Versailles. We got up around 8:30 in the morning to get the breakfast that was included with our hostel price. Well by breakfast I mean a slab of baguette, applesauce, and coffee. Then we headed over to the Louvre to get in line. Admission was free because the museums in France are free on the first Sunday of the month. And the line moved fast. I don't think we waited more than 30 minutes to get in. Yes it was rather crowded, but February is the off season and we still managed to get to the front of the Mona Lisa crowd. The Louvre was fantastic. Well, naturally. But my god. Art-gasm. Getting to see the "Madonna of the Rocks" after studying it so intensely last semester was amazing. Just chilling with some Raphael, some Goya, some Giotto, some da Vinci, some Vermeer, some Michaelangelo...bunch o famous stuff. No big deal...just got to see "psyche and cupid" sculpture and the code of hammurabi. I know most people are disappointed by seeing the Mona Lisa after all the hype. So I was prepared for this tiny tiny portrait, far away, unable to make out more than the outline of a woman. I was impressed, though. It was bigger than I thought it would be. The colors were more vivid, I could even make out the bridge in the background landscape. Mona was totally looking at us no matter where we stood. I loved it. I understand why this painting is such a big freaking deal now. I feel like I get it now. We were there from 11 or so until about 5:20 in afternoon. Day long art-gasm. We were all pretty saturated and exhausted by the end.
When we left we walked through the gardens in front of it, by the big ferris wheel, I found a bracelet that says Paris to add to my wrist collection, and just enjoyed the "fresh" air and limp and naked tree branches. The sun was setting and the sky was golden and pink. Beautiful. Like a grand ending to an incredible day. We walked to the Eiffel Tower from there to take some night time pictures of it all lit up. All the people selling stuff over there reminded me of Italia. People throwing those light up things into the air, flower sellers (personal favorite, NOT), people selling those weirdo wind up dogs and other toys, and a million mini eiffel towers. After this quick stop we booked it back to the hostel, grabbed our stuff that was in storage, and nearly ran to the train station to get there by the check in time of 8:45 pm. How time goes by so fast, I have no idea. Lets just say sitting for a little over 2 hours on the train back was a very welcome break for our feet. And now its back to the London game. Time to hit the books!
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